STATE FUNERALS ARE FOR HEROES NOT HARRIDANS

I’ve had the same nightmare two nights running. Each time I imagine someone saying there’s a plan to give Margaret Thatcher a state funeral.

And nightmares don’t come much worse than that.

I mean, the state honouring the woman who did her damnedest to tear the state in two? The woman who all but killed off whole industries in a bid to kill off trade union power; the woman who turned thriving pit and steel communities into tumbleweed towns; the woman who started the programme of post office closures; the woman who started the sell-off of school playing fields; the woman who sold off much of the excellent council housing system for a pittance to win a few votes; the woman who then gave away the rest of the family silver to further enrich the few; the woman who caused riots on the streets with the doomed poll tax; the woman who said there was no such thing as society and knew what she was talking about because she tried to destroy it; the woman who more than any other single individual was responsible for the despair that leads not-very-bright kids into violence.

No, it must have been nightmare.

If it wasn’t, and the proposal is enacted, I predict that this could be the first state funeral accompanied by an outpouring of hate and demonstrations in the streets.